Goodwin College Participating in Initiative to Help Nontraditional Learners Gain College Degrees and Credentials

The American Council on Education (ACE) today announced the pool of courses selected as part of ACE’s Alternative Credit Project,™ a groundbreaking initiative to boost the ability of millions of nontraditional learners to gain a college degree.

The 111 low- or no-cost, lower-division general education online courses were submitted by a group of non-accredited course providers chosen to participate in the Alternative Credit Project. Goodwin College, along with the 39 other colleges, universities, and systems taking part in the project, has agreed to grant credit for a large number of these courses, which include disciplines such as business, critical thinking and writing, foreign language, humanities, mathematics, and natural and physical sciences.

“At Goodwin College, we value the non-traditional learning experiences and alternative pathways to education that students pursue, and we believe that collegiate-level learning can take place outside of the classroom,” said Henriette Pranger, Assistant Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness. “We are excited to participate in the ACE Alternative Credit Project, which allows students to transfer high-quality, non-traditional credit for general education and lower-division major core courses.”

“This is an important step for an initiative that already has significantly increased our body of knowledge about the most effective ways to increase the number of Americans able to earn a college degree or credential by using education, training and life experiences gained outside a formal classroom,” said ACE President Molly Corbett Broad.

“Nontraditional students who often are balancing multiple family and career demands now know where they can turn to take courses that will help them reduce the time and expense required to gain a postsecondary degree or credential at a number of outstanding institutions,” said Deborah Seymour, ACE assistant vice president for education attainment and innovation.

ACE will be collecting anonymized data from Goodwin College and the other participating institutions regarding the number of credits each institution accepts through this project as well as progress and success rates of students who transfer in consortium-approved courses.

The project is made possible by a $1.89 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.